Former President Donald Trump
took his anti-immigration
rhetoric to a shocking new level
today at a rally in New Hampshir
he said that immigrants are, quo
poisoning the blood of our count
using language
that is often employed
by white supremacists.
CNN's Steve Centanni joins us wi
Steve.
Sounds like some of the stuff
that we've heard from Trump befo
but it was really kind of
on steroids
today, the way he was doubling d
tripling down
and adding some really insensiti
to his usual rhetoric.
What more can you tell us
Yeah, that's right, Jim.
In some ways,
it felt like
if you had,
you would be forgiven
if you thought you had walked
into a Trump rally in 20, 15
and not 20, 23
because so many of the themes
were reticent
of the kind of language
he was using eight years ago.
And when it came to discussing
undocumented Americans in genera
undocumented migrants,
it was particularly dark
and often using this language
that has been adopted
by by white nationalist
groups and roundly criticized
by civil rights leaders.
And this is something we have he
more and more from him
lately as he gets closer
and closer to this campaign,
being people starting to actuall
Take a listen
to what he had to say today.
Beautiful state
with thousands of the poisoning,
the blood of our country.
That's what they've done.
They poisoned mental institution
and prisons all over the world,
not just in South America,
not just the three
or four countries that we think
but all over the world.
They're coming into our country
from Africa,
from Asia, all over the world, t
pouring into our country
now, along with this radical, Ri
also came
some policy
proposals, including a travel ba
on, quote, terror plagued countr
ideological screening for all im
end quote,
the largest deportation operatio
in American history.
Now, a lot of
these are things
he said he would do
when he was elected
president in 2016
and he either ran
into the American legal system
or political trouble,
including with some Republicans
or just sort of dropped off enti
And that is one of the criticism
that we have heard,
especially from Governor Ron DeS
He has no problem with the rheto
or the policies of President Tru
He has said that Trump didn't do
when he was president.
He was just here a day ago
in New Hampshire as well.
And he was telling crowds
that he would actually be
more effective at accomplishing
the Trump agenda than Trump hims
Jim, S.E., let me start with you
Your reaction to Trump using
white supremacists Klan language
I mean, this,
there aren't any dog whistles he
This this is with a bullhorn
now, the kind of language
that he's using.
Yeah. He's not winking or noddin
Like you said,
he's he's out and proud as as it
And I think that's because
not only is this
kind of a
go to for him, but
his base has has condensed.
Its still very loyal and rabid.
We know that. But it's condensed
The folks that might have come o
maybe a little skeptically
for the first go round,
for all the normal reasons, mayb
economic policy, taxes, regulati
they're all gone.
They're gone
because they don't want the
the freak show.
And these, you know,
these kinds of storylines
that come along with Trump.
So all that's really left
are sort of like the conspiracy
crowd and folks
that would respond to this.
And so exploiting white fright i
I think, something
you're probably going to hear mo
from Trump
over the next year as he's, you
running running for president ag
Yeah.
I mean, Molly
Trump also today
vowed to investigate prosecutors
across the country
vowed to indemnify
police officers
as they crack down on crime.
He called January six prisoners,
quote, hostages again.
He also predicted
that Americans will flee
the country in droves
if he wins the upcoming election
Let's listen to that one.
But as soon as we win,
you know what's going to happen.
People are going to flood
out of the country.
They're going to flood out
before we even do anything.
They're going to leave the count
But
what kind of a campaign
platform is this?
Well, I think one of the things
that Trump is trying to do,
which he did successfully
in 20, 15, 20, 16,
and he has not been able to reca
is he wants that free media
right In 2006, he got free media
by saying crazy stuff and he'd h
You know,
it ended up
being more
than $1,000,000,000 worth of fre
where he'd say something crazy.
Then there would be the backlash
that would get coverage, too.
Then there would be you know,
he doesn't really mean it.
You know,
it would be a whole like
a bad for news cycles.
You know, he'd say this thing
about the blood of our country
and it would get him so much fre
So I think there are two things
happening here.
What I think S.E.
was saying is right,
that he knows that
the people who really will go fo
are those George Wallace types,
the kind of people for whom
you know,
they've never had
a mainstream politician,
or at least not for a long time,
saying the quiet part out loud l
And so they're very galvanized b
because they truly do believe
in this kind of horrendous rheto
And then I think the other is th
just trying to get those outrage
news cycles going again.
Because he rode them to victory
No, I'm not sure it would.
Even if he could get them going,
they would work for him now
because he's been doing this for
But I do think that's inadverten
or at certain his goal.
Yeah.
I guess
the question
I have though is
how does this help Donald Trump
win in places
like the suburbs of Philadelphia
or in Michigan
or in Wisconsin?
You know, in Michigan
you have
an Arab-American community
that is upset with Joe Biden ove
and they hear Donald Trump
go out there
on the campaign trail
and say that immigrants are pois
the blood of of the United State
I mean, obviously,
how does this work for him?
How does he win back
these voters
who left him in droves in 20, 20
Right.
I think he's probably written th
I don't
I haven't seen
and you know, we've
we've watched him
and covered him extensively.
I haven't seen him
sing or doing anything
really to reach out
to those voters, the voters in t
Detroit suburbs
that he won in 2016
that I was frankly very surprise
he got a lot of those voters
in, you know, leafy suburbs
of Cleveland for example.
I don't think he's trying
to get them back.
I think he's saying good riddanc
and I'm going to double
down on the base that I have,
which is why I think you're
going to hear more and more of t
because he needs every one of th
to show up at the polls
to make up
for all of the sort of moderate
country club Republicans
and certainly the independents
that that are
just not here for for this again
And Molly,
Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis is predicting Trump wil
what Trump will do
if he loses the Iowa caucuses ne
It was kind of interesting to he
DeSantis say this.
Let's listen to it.
If Trump loses, he will say it's
no matter what.
Absolutely he will.
He will
he will try to delegitimize the
He did that against Ted Cruz.
In 2016.
And he will do that.
I mean,
even when like The Apprentice
didn't get an Emmy, he said what
So so
I think I don't think
there's been a single time
he's ever been in competition
for something where he didn't ge
where he has where he's accepted
I don't think he will do that.
So I think he's doing that.
I think that that's to be expect
But I don't think
people are going to buy it.
Now, there are
about seven
people standing behind Ron DeSan
as he was saying that, versus
the hundreds
or thousands that were in Manche
as Trump was talking
about poisoning the blood of our
But it is fascinating to hear Ro
DeSantis
essentially say that
Trump is a sore loser who lies
when he loses.
Yeah.
I mean,
I think if
if Santos had said stuff like th
when he was ahead
way at the beginning of his camp
he would have been offering
an alternative
to Trump versus
like this
sort of watered down version of
Trump policies,
but further to the right
without the charisma.
So, yeah, it's
great that Ron
DeSantis has gotten so brave
but he's doing it as like a Hail
Mary pass.
So I think it kind of
undermines his message.
But I do think I hate to say it,
I agree with Ron DeSantis
yeah.
And I mean, it's interesting.
I guess the expectations game
has already started.
Matt Gates is out there
campaigning for Trump.
He's expressing some concern
Take a listen to what he told
voters in Iowa last night.
My only worry is low turnout.
I don't want our folks
out of our fellow
patriots
thinking, well,
a caucus
is a little different than an el
I don't know how that really wor
I don't know what I have to do.
Are they trying to set the stage
for Trump,
maybe underperforming in Iowa
or getting caught by surprise?
And so,
you know,
Trump voters don't know how to c
or as I would back
aides are saying I don't underst
Yeah.
And Matt Gaetz is is parroting T
Trump earlier
this week,
I believe
we're seeing the same exact thin
that it's about turnout.
And if they don't get the turnou
going to make a big difference.
And so, yeah,
I think they are worried about t
And I think in addition
to that
real practical concern,
I think,
you know, Trump is such a showma
I think he's worried about the p
that if it's close in Iowa, for
that he'll lose that momentum an
you know, lose, lose this
this very wide gap
he has in the polls right now
between him and his nearest comp
whether it's Haley or or DeSanti
Given the poll,
I think he's worried about what
that will look like
and what that will say.
And so,
yeah,
I think he wants to lower expect
but also really drive turnout.